Our Elicit review
Elicit earns its place in the AI research tools shortlist for literature reviews, provided limited outside academic literature is not a dealbreaker.
We score Elicit 4.3 out of 5 — strong ease of use, strong performance and strong value for money.
What Elicit is
Elicit is Elicit's AI research tools product, launched in 2021. Research assistant that searches 125M+ papers, extracts findings into tables and summarises evidence with citations.
It is aimed at beginner users — the learning curve is gentle. Day one you would use it for literature reviews, thesis research and evidence summaries. It runs on Web, with no mobile app, and there is an API if you want it inside your own systems.
Where it shines
In testing against the rest of the category, two things stand out: every claim links to a paper and huge time saver for literature reviews. The feature set behind that is paper search, data extraction tables, systematic review workflows, PDF chat and citations.
We rate performance 4.4/5 and answer accuracy around 90% for the tasks in this category, which is why it holds up for literature reviews and thesis research.
Where it falls short
Where it frustrated us: limited outside academic literature and extraction needs checking.
Nothing here needs training, so the risk is not difficulty — it is paying for capability you never use.
Pricing and value for money
Pricing is Free · Plus $12/mo · Pro $49/mo. At $12 a month that is $144 a year per person, in line with the rest of the category (the category median is about $12). A free tier exists, so you can test it properly before paying.
If budget is the constraint, look at the free tiers of the alternatives below. Our cost calculator will show what adding Elicit does to your monthly stack before you commit.
Who should use Elicit
Elicit is the right call for literature reviews, thesis research and evidence summaries. Skip it if limited outside academic literature is a bigger problem for you than every claim links to a paper is a benefit.
The alternatives worth comparing are Consensus ($12/mo), Perplexity ($20/mo) and NotebookLM ($20/mo). Put them side by side before you buy.
Worth a trial: Elicit at $12/mo is best used for literature reviews and thesis research, and it earns 4.3/5 from us.